Many battery-operated appliances (some are alternately operated from a wall socket) such as volt-ohmmeters and radios, include manually-operated controls and a display on the front face of the housing. A battery compartment is generally accessible from the rear face of the housing. The circuit board which contains most of the circuitry of the appliance and which lies near the rear of the housing, often has a cutout to accommodate the battery compartment. The cutout in the circuit board wastes space on the modern high density circuit boards. Also, the need to turn over the appliance to replace the battery is often an awkward process. A battery-operated appliance which facilitated battery replacement and avoided the need for a circuit board cutout to accommodate a battery compartment, would be of considerable value.